1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle parking apparatus where a vehicle is parked and an elevator apparatus for making the vehicle go up and down within an elevator shaft, and particularly relates to a vehicle parking apparatus and an elevator apparatus of a structure where a vehicle is suspended.
2. Background Art
Mechanical vehicle parking apparatus are utilized in parking of vehicles.
For example, a vehicle may be stored in vertically stacked storage racks.
An example of this type of vehicle parking apparatus is comprised of a number of palettes, a number of storage racks, an elevator apparatus, and a cage support apparatus.
The elevator apparatus is comprised of a lift cage, wire, and winding apparatus.
A palette is a quadrilateral structure in which a vehicle is mounted. The palette is convenient for handling various shapes and sizes of vehicles. With a typical vehicle parking apparatus, vehicles are handled using palettes. Some parking apparatus handle vehicles without using a palette.
Storage racks are racks capable of storing vehicles. A number of storage racks are lined up in a vertical direction. Ordinarily, a number of parking racks lined up vertically are arranged to the left and right of an elevator shaft. A vehicle loading and unloading area is provided midway along the elevator shaft.
A lift cage is a structure capable of being mounted with a vehicle. The lift cage is built-into a transfer apparatus for transferring a palette on which a vehicle is mounted between storage racks and the lift cage.
A wire is a mechanical element for suspending the lift cage along the storage racks.
A winding apparatus is capable of winding the wire up and down.
A cage support apparatus is an apparatus for supporting the lift cage within the building of the vehicle parking apparatus when the lift cage is lined up horizontally with one storage rack of a number of storage racks.
A description is now given of the operation when a vehicle is loaded into the vehicle parking apparatus.
A vehicle enters the lift cage placed at the vehicle loading and unloading area under its own propulsion.
The winding apparatus then winds up the wire. The lift cage is then stopped horizontally at one storage rack of the number of storage racks. The cage support apparatus supports the lift cage using the main structure of the building.
The transfer apparatus then transfers the palette the vehicle is on to a storage rack, and loading is complete.
Next, a description is given of the operation when a vehicle is unloaded from the vehicle parking apparatus.
The winding apparatus winds up the wire. The lift cage is then stopped horizontally at one storage rack of the number of storage racks. The cage support apparatus supports the lift cage using the main structure of the building.
The transfer apparatus then transfers the palette loaded with the vehicle from the storage rack to the lift cage.
The cage support apparatus then releases support of the lift cage.
The winding apparatus then winds down the wire, and the lift cage is lowered to the vehicle loading and unloading area.
The vehicle then exits from the vehicle loading and unloading area under its own propulsion.
The cage support apparatus makes the level of a rail surface of rails the palette is in at the lift cage and the level of the rail surface of the rails the palette is in the storage rack coincide, and then supports the lift cage using the main structure.
In a vehicle parking apparatus, there is a substantial difference in weight between an empty lift cage and an occupied lift cage.
For example, if the weight of an empty lift cage is 2.7 tons and the weight of a vehicle is 2.5 tons, it means that the difference in weight between when a lift cage is empty and loaded would be 2.5 tons.
When the cage support apparatus goes from a state of supporting a lift cage to a state of releasing support of the lift cage, the wire extends or contracts, and a load noise may occur because of a difference between the extent of extension of the wire from which the lift cage is hanging when loaded and the extent of extension of the wire from which the lift cage is hanging when empty.
If the cage support apparatus completely supports the gross weight of the lift cage, tension relating to the wire is unbalanced. Namely, a counterweight is suspended on the opposite side to where the lift cage of the wire is hanging. This means that force of the counterweight is acting on one side, while tension is no longer being generated on the opposite side.
The case where wire is wound onto a drive sheave and is wound up and wound down by a winding apparatus using friction is particularly inconvenient. For example, there may be cases where the friction between the drive sheave and the wires is insufficient, so that winding up of the wire or winding down of the wire becomes unstable.
This type of winding up apparatus has been adopted in recent years so that the winding apparatus does not become large in cases where the number of storage racks increase due to the number of cars parked increasing and it is therefore preferable to prevent the occurrence of this phenomenon.
In order to resolve the problems described above, the present invention provides vehicle parking apparatus and elevator apparatus capable of stable operation with a simple configuration.